#three troublemakers

"Jake Perry, I swear if you throw me in the water. I'll kick your ass!" I squealed as he holds me above the pond near his house, thinking about throwing me in the cold water. My hands clutching his shirt with him carrying me bridal style. We were almost out of high school and he still acts like a teenager. "Stop you're worrying doll. I'll stop." He sits me back on my feet. Giving me the chance to grab his baseball cap from his head. It takes him a second to realize and then he starts chasing me around the yard. The sun was set already so we could see the glow from the fire flies. "Y/n, give me my hat!" Jake hollered following me up the stairs but I jumped over the railing landing hard on my feet. He ran down the stairs as I released a fit of giggles until he managed to grab my shirt. He spun me around where my hair gets thrown in my face as little. His hands resting on my hips with our bodies tightly pressed up against one another. "Jake..." I mumbled feeling my cheeks get hot when he locks onto my eyes. With his right hand he yanked his hat back placing it on my head with a smile, removing himself from my arms. "If you're gonna take it. At least where it, cause it looks better on you anyways."

The sun is starting to set off in the distance as I lean on my elbows from my parents front porch. The front door creaked open hearing my mother take a seat beside me breaking the silence. "I think you deserve a night of drinking sweetheart." Turning my head to her I shake my head about to respond until the sound of a truck pulled up in the driveway. The driver door opened Jake stepping out wearing a flannel shirt and blue jeans clearly annoyed about something. "Come on doll, put on your favorite dress we're going out." He hollered up to me my mother smiled seeing me come out of my room wearing a yellow dress with blue jeans underneath. Climbing in his truck we entered his mom's bar seeing most of our friends are here.

"Here's two margaritas. One for me and for you." Jake clicked our glasses together with a smile. Tipping the glass back to my lips I flipped my hair over my shoulder trying to flirt with him. "Is this how you get girls in the back of your pick-up truck, Perry?" He bends his head chuckling when I nudged him into the pool table. The bar door opened making me glance over my shoulder to see Melanie wearing a black and red dress shirt clearly from New York. She looks around the room ordering a bunch of shots turning her completely drunk in a couple hours. Jake leans his back against the pool table annoyance written on his face. I don't dare want to get involved in their divorce. "Memory Lane's closed, Mel. I suggest you leave." She spun on her feet making the liquid in her shot glass move, snipping back to him. "Awe that's nothin' Jake. You wanna talk about Memory lane look at Y/n. That girls been drooling over you since high school. But I guess she's isn't good enough to get pregnant now is she."

The glass in my hands slipped shattering into pieces on the floor seconds after her words registered in my brain. Everyone in the bar except for Jake turns to look at me. I feel tears starting to surface so I headed for the door until Bobby Ray called my name making me pause. He has always been a good friend to me unlike Melanie in this moment. "Hey now that's a little harsh, Mel. In case you've forgotten we were your friends once too." Melanie flipped her hair out of her eyes drinking the last of her drink. "Oh of course. You've always been loyal to your friends. Except not as affectionate with the ladies, ain't that right. But maybe you'll have better luck at a gay bar." His face flushed as one of his guy friends looked at him confused. "Why would he hang out at a gay bar?" Jake bawled his hands into fists at his side grabbing Melanie by the arm dragging her outside as I bolted outside towards the water tower not really caring how far I was running.

Bawling my hands into fists I just start punching the metal legs of the water tower heavily sobbing. I didn't want to be mad at Mel but she promised she wouldn't say a word. Then she got drunk and decided to tell the whole dang town. While I keep punching the metal cutting my knuckles open I feel raindrops starting to fall from the sky. Tires streaked to a halt on the road and a door slammed as I dropped on the muddy ground crying. "Y/n, come with me you'll catch a cold!" Jake's voice hollered through the heavy rain seeing him holding a flashlight at me. Hugging my legs to my chest I bury my face in my knees not wanting to see him. "Go away Jake. Go back to the girl you really want." His foosteps came closer before he's on his knees in front of me soaked head to toe from the rain. He rests a hand to my cheek making me look him in the eye. "Melanie shouldn't have said what she did. But I'm happy she did." Knitting my eyebrows together I felt my cheeks turning red again seeing our noses are almost touching. "You are. But why?" He suddenly pressed his lips onto mine and I wrapped my arms around his neck kissing back, feeling him pick me up carrying me to his truck and out of the cold never breaking the kiss.